Jack White's 'Blunderbuss' debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200

 Jack White

Credit: AP Photo

For all the various hats worn by Jack White (singer, guitarist, actor, record label head), he's never been No. 1 on the Billboard 200 until now.

His first solo album, "Blunderbuss," debuts at No. 1 this week on the chart, selling 138,000 copies. Surprisingly, none of White's other bands -- The White Stripes, the Raconteurs or the Dead Weather -- have hit No. 1, although all three bands have been in the top ten. 

The closest shave was back in 2007, when The White Stripes' "Icky Thump," peaked at No. 2.

The acclaimed "Blunderbuss" was helped along by a heavy promotional push, including White's "American Express: Unstaged" performance, which was directed by Gary Oldman.

The rest of the top five was dominated by holdovers, including Adele's ubiquitous "21," which moves up from No. 3 to No. 2, selling 84,000 copies (-6%).

Last week's topper, Lionel Richie's "Tuskegee" fell 31%, down to No. 3 after selling 78,000, while boy band One Direction's "Up All Night" rose to No. 4, selling 50,000 units. 

Among the other debut releases this week, country star Lee Brice finds himself in the top ten for the first time as "Hard 2 Love" enters at No. 5 with 46,000.

Another country performer, Kip Moore, sees his debut "Up All Night" -- not to be confused with One Direction's "Up All Night" -- land at No. 6 after moving 37,000 copies. Sleep is not a hot commodity on the charts these days. 

And the boy band re-renaissance continues as The Wanted's self-titled U.S. debut (actually a compilation of singles) premieres at No. 7 with 34,000 sold. 

Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" drops to No. 8 (-33%), while Gotye's "Making Mirrors" falls from 7 to 9 (-28%).

Jason Mraz's "Love is a Four Letter Word" endures a steep decline from No. 2 to No. 10 (-71%).

Sales for the week are down 6% compared to last week, but up (by less than 1%) compared to the same week last year.

Dave Lewis
Producer

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Dave Lewis has been a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer and editor for nearly ten years. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, he moved to L.A. in 1996 to attend USC, before working for various periodicals and web sites including a lengthy stint at Variety.com. He joined the HitFix staff in 2011.